Red Bull team boss Christian Horner insists that his team will not attempt to institute team orders this weekend and will instead rely on its drivers to make the final call.

"If one of them can't win but is in a position to help the other, it will be his choice not a team instruction," said the Englishman ahead of this weekend's championship decider.

"We are in a situation where we have two drivers who can win this world championship," he told the BBC. "Mark is in a better position than Sebastian but both go into the event with a genuine chance of winning it. The objective is to try and win the race but if one of them can't do that but is in a position to help the other it will be his choice.

"I have no doubt that they will do the right thing to help their team-mate," he added. "Fernando is the key; they need to know where he is.

"The question you're asking is for a driver to give up a grand prix victory in order for this team-mate to potentially win a world championship and we feel that is down to the driver, if he wants to do that it will be a gesture from the driver not an instruction for the team. If we were in a situation like we were in Brazil I could only imagine that if Sebastian were prepared to do something for his team-mate that it would be at the very end of the race but we're a long, long way from that.

"We have always given the drivers equal opportunity," he continued. "We have two drivers who have pushed each other very hard and it's the sporting thing to do to allow them to compete. Neither driver agreed to drive for this team as a number two driver and we've always backed both of them equally to the best of our ability.

"It would be fantastic to come away with a drivers' championship but to us it doesn't matter which one. Both the drivers recognise the value of the team, they've produced a great car for them and both are big team players. I've no doubt that either of them would do the right thing.

"We are going to give it everything we can and see how it pans out. Our target is a one-two and they know they need both need to finish but we must not underestimate our opponents."